A Latin Source for Merugud Uilix, the Medieval Irish Narrative of Ulysses

Abstract

Abstract:Merugud Uilix remains an unsolved puzzle. It clearly reflects considerable Classical learning, but its stylistic character and narrative techniques are such that many readers have associated it with oral tradition and folklore. It is here proposed that the opening of the tale is an expanded translation of the section on Ulysses in the anonymous Excidium Troie, an early medieval school-text on Trojan War mythology that served as an aid to the study of Vergil's Aeneid. The author of the Merugud began from this source and extended it with other materials, taken both from Vergil-based study and from the wider resources of Irish-language narrative tradition.